Thursday, September 27, 2012

TANGHALANG PILIPINO MOUNTS MARIO O’HARA’S “STAGESHOW”

After the successful run of its stage play,
“Walang Kukurap”, Tanghalang Pilipino (TP) pays tribute to the stage artists of
yesteryears through its 3rd theater season offering entitled “Stageshow”,
a grand musical play slated on October 10-21, 2012, 3pm and 8pm, at the
Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little
Theater) .

Written by the late veteran
TV, film, and theatre actor, director-playwright Mario O’Hara, Stageshow is a poignant and emotionally charged
play which focuses on the plight of a small group of dedicated Filipino artists
during the twilight years of their careers.The play also takes us into a glimpse of a lost era in Philippine
cultural history-the stageshows called the bodabil
and where these artists are torn between their love for the art and
economic survival. The play also touches on the reality that the torch-bearers
of any culture are its artists and the tendency to discard the old for the new
often comes at the expensive and irreparable cost of losing one’s soul.

Adapted from the American ‘vaudeville’, bodabil was a popular entertainment
genre from 1920s to mid-‘60s, which spawned legendary talents like Dolphy,
Bayani Casimiro, Rogelio dela Rosa, German Moreno, Sylvia La Torre, Pilita
Corrales, Elizabeth Ramsey, Oscar Obligacion, Chichay, the tandem of Pugo and
Tugo, among others. It featured a hodgepodge of musical numbers, short-form
comedy and dramatic skits, often staged inside the theatres of Manila.

“The
play captures the essence of the people behind a stageshow,” says Fernando
“Tata Nanding” Josef, TP’s artistic director. Tata Nanding divulged that Mario
O’Hara wanted to illustrate how these stage shows and their artists evolved from
popularity to obscurity.

Directed
by Chris Millado, Tanghalang Pilipino will also honor these stageshow artists in a “Gabi ng Pagkilala sa mga
Beterano ng Stageshow” on October 13, 2012. The play is also an official
entry to the National Theater Festival in November.

For ticket
reservations, group sales, sponsorships, and special performances, please contact
Ms. Cherry Bong Edralin at 0917-750-0107 / 0918-959-3949, 832-1125 local 1620/1621.
Tickets are also available at Ticketworld
at 891-9999 and at the CCP Box Office. Visit the official TP website at www.tanghalangpilipino.org.ph
for other information.